Heatbreak PTFE Tube Replacement

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ChrisERAU
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 1:23 am

Heatbreak PTFE Tube Replacement

Post by ChrisERAU » Sat Nov 06, 2021 5:25 am

After some printer sketchiness the past several months, I noticed that the ptfe tube in the heatbreak was in bad shape. The inner diameter was super worn. Before I splurged on a new heatbreak, I wondered if I could just replace the tube, just like I’ve done for other non-makergear printers. I took the hotend off, (carefully!!) removed the set screw at the top of the heatbreak, and fished out the old tube. It was in such horrible shape that I didn’t even bother trying to measure its length. I figured out that the required length is 10.0 mm. Using my high-temp Capricorn ptfe tubing, I cut a piece to that length while ensuring that the cuts were exactly perpendicular. I chamfered the inner diameter of the upper end slightly to aid in filament loading. Then I put everything back together. Test prints came out perfect! This was pretty easy to do and definitely beats having to replace the entire heatbreak.

Gwhite
Posts: 372
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2017 3:38 pm

Re: Heatbreak PTFE Tube Replacement

Post by Gwhite » Sat Nov 06, 2021 2:00 pm

Thanks for the tip! It never occurred to me to check that when I'm messing with my hotends. I'm assuming you used this stuff:

https://www.amazon.com/Capricorn-Bowden ... B079P92HN9

ChrisERAU
Posts: 21
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 1:23 am

Re: Heatbreak PTFE Tube Replacement

Post by ChrisERAU » Sat Nov 06, 2021 2:47 pm

Yep, that's the stuff. There's definitely a quality difference between the cheap PTFE tubing and the Capricorn brand. The cheap stuff melts when printing at 240 C, whereas the Capricorn stuff has a much higher melting point. Found that out the hard way on my other printer :D

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